October 21, 2010

... I don’t expect Juan Williams to support me (he’s said some tough things about me in the past) – but I will always support his right and the right of all Americans to speak honestly about the threats this country faces. And for Juan, speaking honestly about these issues isn’t just his right, it’s his job. Up until yesterday, he was doing that job at NPR. Firing him is their loss.

If NPR is unable to tolerate an honest debate about an issue as important as Islamic terrorism, then it’s time for “National Public Radio” to become “National Private Radio.” It’s time for Congress to defund this organization.

275 comments:

Freedom of speech is not at issue. He is free to go on Fox and continue to spread prejudice against Muslims.

NPR, however, has no obligation to keep him on the payroll when he very clearly flouts their published ethical standards:

9. NPR journalists must get permission from the Vice President for their Division or their designee to appear on TV or other media. It is not necessary to get permission in each instance when the employee is a regular participant on an approved show. Permission for such appearances may be revoked if NPR determines such appearances are harmful to the reputation of NPR or the NPR participant.

10. In appearing on TV or other media including electronic Web-based forums, NPR journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist. They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than rather than fact-based analysis.

http://www.npr.org/about/aboutnpr/ethics/ethics_code.html

This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. Neither does criticism of speech.

Rock the boat,Don't rock the boat, Juan-y.Rock the boat,Don't tip the boat over.

NPR is a serene little cocoon for its predominantly left-of-center audience. A vast landscape of flat intonation and synchronous opinion speckled with catchy esoteric music. Juan's statement came dangerously close to raising the audience's pulse above 35 bpm, which is prohibited by NPR's editorial policy. Then again, who listening to NPR would have also heard him on Fox News?

Alpha's contention that this is not a freedom of speech issue makes me curious (one I agree with, although their firing Williams is just another example of the left's intolerance). Since NPR is funded by government bucks couldn't this be interpreted as a government restriction on free speech?

Alpha: Splendid cutting and pasting!! So, to be sure I understand, NPR was unaware of Williams' presence on Fox until, like, last night? And then they caught and fired him? You are the best, the absolute best, at getting me to laugh.

NPR claims that the federal government does not fund them. It says so on their web site.

This is true, in the narrow sense that federal funds do not go directly to NPR. But government funds do go in large amounts to foundations that fund NPR, and to local public radio stations, which in turn pay large fees to NPR for programming.

NPR's CEO said today that Williams' statement should have been between him "and his psychiatrist." Having done the damage to Williams and to her organization, she apologized for the statement.

Right after we defund Alaska, a state completely dependent on pork, federal handouts, and oil profits, which costs us $2 for every $1 we send. Return those oil welfare checks your receive from the government for your litter of little grizzlies. Set an example for us.

"This is true, in the narrow sense that federal funds do not go directly to NPR. But government funds do go in large amounts to foundations that fund NPR, and to local public radio stations, which in turn pay large fees to NPR for programming."

If there were no federal funding for NPR - however it gets there - there would be no NPR. Air America proved that.

Ah yes, thanks for the reminder - you should be the last to call anyone a cretin:

Montagne Montaigne said...we should make all blacks go through special screening anyway. ...anyone sort of brown should be submitted for additional screening. There should be a whites-only line - @ 10:41AM, 10-21-10

This again shows Palin (or is it Katie Couric ghost writing for her) has hit the issue of the day head on and with just the right tone. Maybe, like C-4 claimsedaftn, she really is a goddess. Her level of political skills are unseen since Dick Nixon, and she is much better looking.

Really, it's the fact that it's National Public Radio that's generating so much heat, I think. If Williams had worked for CBS Radio and got fired for what he said on O'Reilly, I'd think it was stupid of CBS, but I wouldn't get really heated about it. The hypocrisy and cowardly charges would still apply, but I wouldn't have any skin in the game.

But this looks like ideological enforcement from something that bills itself as the public voice (it's in their name) and takes a good bit of taxpayer money (however it's delivered--straight up or through the intermediaries.) It's that extra untimely twist that's ticking me off.

So defund it. Remove public money. If, as some here contend, the public money is negligible, then this should be a slam dunk on all sides. The left can be happy that their niche is filled by an entity that the right can't gripe about, and the right is happy their money doesn't fund opposing ideological conformity.

Final note: Big Mike is right. Citing the ethical guidelines isn't sufficient to fire Williams. The guidelines are, "if you wouldn't say it here, don't say it there." But the cited guidelines don't specify what or why certain things can be said on NPR. Process guidelines aren't useful in evaluating a content violation. There's got to be something else for reference.

I always liked Williams. He's not my political flavor, but he makes the liberal argument calmly and clearly. I enjoy understanding what people on the other side think, what makes them tick. Williams can make his points in a reasonable way that makes you think.

I've read enough about this pitiful incident today to decide NPR was just looking for an excuse to fire him. If you read the entire exchange it's clear he's arguing that having those feelings towards Muslims is bad and we don't want to be that country.

There's just nothing there that's offensive.

I don't listen to NPR and I don't watch much TV anymore, and NPR certainly has the right to hire and fire as they wish, but they botched this and made fools of themselves.

Oh. The last time I found myself listening to NPR was after the wife had used my car and switched the radio. I was making a short trip to the grocer, and during the few minutes I listened the guys they had reporting were describing how difficult it was for Obama to get his health care bill through "the republican congress". I actually laughed out loud.

So, to be sure I understand, NPR was unaware of Williams' presence on Fox until, like, last night?

No, his work, and Mara Liasson's, on Fox News has given them trouble for years. They requested of JW that he no longer use his NPR affiliation on Fox.

And, to others, government money has nothing to do with this. Again, Juan is in violation of their published ethics standards. He is not being muzzled, he is just not being paid as a representative of NPR.

Unlike nearly every possible Republican nominee for President being on Rupert Murdoch's payroll. So, the likelihood of one of Murdoch's employees being the Republican nominee is pretty high.

Is there a reason why NPR would not tolerate Williams airing precisely the same view in his role as an NPR journalist?

It gets to other comments. Juan was talking about his inner and personal fears about being around Muslims. That topic is really about his personal emotions and anxieties and not in the slightest a news item. And I think that's where the psychiatrist crack comes in.

Adding, funny how all of a sudden conservatives give a tinker's dam about "tolerance." I thought you guys scoffed at tolerance.

NPR is government sponsored political speech. It is antithetical to the obvious intent of the First Amendment in that it is an encroachment by the power of the government on the free marketplace of ideas. It is government propaganda that supports the economic interests of those in power.

NPR should certainly be defunded. Not made more balanced or neutral, but completely defunded.

"That topic is really about his personal emotions and anxieties and not in the slightest a news item."

NPR would consider it newsworthy to interview black people talking about their personal fears of being around whites, or gays talking about their fears of being around skinheads. These used to be predictable topics on Morning Edition or All Things Considered. Williams' only offense was failing to issue the ritual commendation of Islam and Moslems required to stay in the Left's good stead.

I just understood Palin's use of the phrase "Going Rogue". It is more than speaking up when McCain campaign handlers told her to shut up. It means the boldness to speak up for common sense truths against the Party Line which is usually lying through its teeth and no one else dares to oppose the All Powerful Machine. That is the courage that started the Tea Party. That is the courage that got Juan Williams fired. That is the courage that got real scientists threats of professional death and actual imprisonment from the Global Warmist Machine. IT IS ALWAYS A FREE SPEECH ISSUE in the modern information control age.

If you get fired for speaking your mind, how is that not a freedom of speech issue?

Well, he isn't protesting government policy, true enough, but, then, Corporation for Public Broadcasting (the parent org) is a Congressional creation and gets government money.

Of course, CPB is stridently left-wing. Since it doesn't reflect the broad spectrum of political opinion, one presumes it shouldn't get federal funding.

I think that we have a couple of issues here. First, Freedom of Speech only applies to government restrictions on speech. Not private, and NPR/CPB are private enough that they are unlikely to be bound by the 1st Amdt.

But, then, why is any public money, directly or indirectly, going to espousing views that are far from neutral? NPR has been rabidly left wing for decades now (though it does seem to be jettisoning its more mature staff, despite their being reliably liberal). The question is, why is one federal dollar going directly, or indirectly (such as through the local affiliates) to an organization that is so far from being viewpoint neutral.

"Right after we defund Alaska, a state completely dependent on pork, federal handouts, and oil profits, which costs us $2 for every $1 we send. Return those oil welfare checks your receive from the government for your litter of little grizzlies. Set an example for us.

Oh never mind."

Quite right, "Oh, never mind", because the rest of that suggestion is... Just say the word, but the Feds also have to give back all the real estate they control to the State of Alaska and along with it the authority to limit economic development by fiat in that state.

"[Dana Davis Rehm, NPR’s senior vice president for communications] said it was inappropriate for politicians to interject the issue of federal funding into an editorial decision, adding that she hoped the controversy would not affect financial support for public radio. “Stations are in fund-raising season, so it is unfortunate that this occurred at this time,” she said."

Yeah; I'll bet.Heh.

Well, I for one will make the same pledge I did last year. I spent the $60 and joined the local gun range.

Juan, I hope you'll forgive me. You know I'm not a bigot. You know that right?

It's just that when I'm walking down the street, I got to tell you, if I see people who are black with their baseball caps turned sideways or backwards and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as gangbangers, I get worried. I get nervous.

Because, truthfully, you just never know what those coloreds are up to. Though most of them are good dancers.

Journalists should be able to convey ideas freely. There's a line you shouldn't cross, but Juan wasn't even near it by being frank. He was actually towing the PC line, if you don't cut his comment out of context. But that's besides the point.

He was being frank about an interesting topic. It's odious we're funding those who fired him, but they were wrong even if they were MSNBC or NYT.

NPR did this for money, this being a publicity maker among the left on funding week. but long term, they will wish they had been reasonable.

Can anyone here estimate how many hours of programming we get for that $400 Million? It seems to me there are about 15-20 public TV shows and my local station runs re-reuns after re-run. If there are 25 public TV shows, that means we get what one show for $16 Million [$400 Million / 25 shows]? Is that a good deal? or just another govt waste?

A December 2005 column run by NPR ombudsman and former Vice President Jeffrey Dvorkin denied allegations by some listeners that NPR relies heavily on conservative think-tanks[30]. In his column, Dvorkin listed the number of times NPR had cited experts from conservative and liberal think tanks in the previous year as evidence. The totals were 239 for conservative think tanks, and 141 for liberal ones. He noted that while the number of times liberal think tanks were cited was less, in addition to think tanks the liberal point of view is commonly provided by academics.

I think she is too stained by the attacks on her to run for president, but she's doing a great job of leading the opposition to the current administration and congress. I don't give a hoot about what people think about her, and their, frankly, insane accusations. I only care that she is the only person leading right now and that makes her a king maker. Whoever she supports will get the republican nomination.

Then again, after seeing another attack on O'Donnell, I'm thinking we should elect her just to stamp out such vicious attacks.

Right after we defund Alaska, a state completely dependent on pork, federal handouts, and oil profits, which costs us $2 for every $1 we send. Return those oil welfare checks your receive from the government for your litter of little grizzlies. Set an example for us.

Since your plan is to defund Alaska, then you fully support the desire of state residents to fully develop all their natural resources.

Especially ANWR.

You know, since the federal government can't keep its nose out of Alaska's business, if we "defund" it then the federal government has to remove its restrictions on them.

Still willing to make that trade or do you think you should rethink your stupid comment instead?

The average public radio station gets 10% of its revenue from the CPB:

Four years out, the CPB has asked for $95 million for all the public radio stations' operating costs:

(Local)Programming and Production 41.88%Management and General 17.78%Broadcasting and Engineering 14.99%Fund Raising and Membership Development 13.99%Underwriting and Grant Solicitation 5.26%Program Information and Promotion 4.87%Other Activities & Services 1.23%

$31 million for them to buy programs with, from PRI and APM, etc., as well as from NPR.

Of course the usual suspects are changing the topic to horrible Fox News rather than have to discuss NPR's blatant and discriminatory (and probably actionable) censorship of uncomfortable commentary.

At least Fox News allows Juan Williams to speak his mind. Liberally, on many different shows and formats. Clearly, that's just too too much for the delicate flowers at NPR and their narrowminded and provincial (and vindictive!) listeners.

Also, Williams is far from being the only liberal on the Fox network (Shep Smith, Kirsten Powers, Geraldo, fatcranky Beckel, etc., in addition to an endless stream of liberal guests). In contrast, NPR is not fair and balanced. Does NPR employ any conservative on-air talent? UMMMMMMM(no). I once tuned in to NPR and heard a conservative opinion expressed. There was a brief pause and then everyone started laughing. HAHA. Joking! Fox News has a liberal anchor (Smith), and strong liberal presence among the commentators and analysts. NPR presents conservative opinions like they are a curious zoo exhibit as opposed to the majority opinion of the public. Compared to taxpayer funded NPR, Fox actually is fair and balanced.

"Fired NPR news analyst Juan Williams should have kept his feeling about Muslims between himself and "his psychiatrist or his publicist," the network's CEO [Vivian Schiller] told an audience at the Atlanta Press Club earlier today."

Nova is cool. We can keep that. I'd be happy if they shut down their "news" department. Seriously, it is inappropriate for government funding to go to a news organization. I don't see the contrary argument. The only reason people support it is they like what's reported. What kind of criteria is that?

I only believe stats that agree with my already formed opinion. Question though: How would conservatives know NPR is liberally biased if they didn't listen to it? Well, we know why conservatives listen to it. Almost twice as many conservatives are cited as experts on NPR than liberals!

"Question though: How would conservatives know NPR is liberally biased if they didn't listen to it?"

Because sometimes you can't get away from it. The cabdriver might have it on and refuse to change the channel and it is not worth getting out of the car. Or you might be in the health food store because you have to buy the stupid fucking Stuvia for your wife and they have it blasting and the five minutes you have to listen to it makes you want to gouge your eyes out with an organic zuchini.

I tried to listen to the news on NPR while bored in Milwaukee last spring, being close to self-immolation as Beyonce was rerererepeated on the pop station, but I quickly switched to Dion and the Belmonts after 42 seconds of lefty spin had blood spraying outta my eyebones.

T our home we do listen to NPR and enjoy the shows such as Wait..Wait, Don't tell Me, Prairie Home Companion, Car Talk and George Harter's Musial Theater Heritage, and many special reports. But what cracks me up is the easy going and somewhat amused take of the News reporters about the End of the World news coming out about our economy and our current President that they report as if it is upbeat chit chat. Please leave their funding alone so that i can hear how they deal with President Palin's Administration. That will be comedy gold.

For some reason I don't listen to NPR either. Don't know why. I listen to ESPN radio during football season. I watch zero cable news, although I was subjected to about a week of it traveling on the road at hotels which all had Fox News on.

In appearing on TV or other media including electronic Web-based forums, NPR journalists should not express views they would not air in their role as an NPR journalist. They should not participate in shows electronic forums, or blogs that encourage punditry and speculation rather than rather than fact-based analysis.

Why do I get the feeling they wouldn't have any problem with him appearing on MSNBC?

And why does that sound almost exactly like the marching orders the White House gave its staffers regarding appearing on Fox News?

“We don’t report to any congressional committee,” she said. “NPR is an independent news organization that receives no direct federal money, and less than 1 percent of our budget comes from grants that we competitively seek from government-funded organizations like the CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] and the NEA [National Endowment for the Arts].”

I didn't put this all together, myself, but that's some double-standard:

Let's take a look back...

Since June, several reporters have been dismissed after media controversies over their offensive comments. Helen Thomas was forced into retirement in June after she said that the Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home." CNN forced out Octavia Nasr in July for tweeting her condolences when a spiritual leader of Hezbollah died. And Rick Sanchez was let go from CNN in October after calling Jon Stewart a "bigot" and suggesting that CNN is run by the Jews.

"AlphaLiberal said....Since June, several reporters have been dismissed after media controversies over their offensive comments. Helen Thomas was forced into retirement in June after she said that the Jews should "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home." CNN forced out Octavia Nasr in July for tweeting her condolences when a spiritual leader of Hezbollah died. And Rick Sanchez was let go from CNN in October after calling Jon Stewart a "bigot" and suggesting that CNN is run by the Jews."

Which means that Juan Williams thinks that Muslims are Jewish. Or something like that.

I don't get what Alpha is driving at.

Oh well. I will wait for Cedarford to explain it in his own inimitable style.

Trooper, it's just the same old routine. Religious and racial hatred are the bread and butter of the Left. Without them people would be left with reality, and nobody needs a social engineer/bureaucrat in the real world.

Roger J. said...Wasnt it Jesse Jackson said said something to the effect

The quote

There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved....

from American Journalism Review 1991 (OK its old):Thirty percent of NPR listeners consider themselves conservative and 30 percent liberal, compared to 40 percent and 20 percent among the general population.

Having Listened to the usual gallery of (foul) quiffs on NPR for years, I can assure everyone that Juan has not been fired, he's been granted clemency.No intelligent human being can listen to NPR for more than 5 consecutive minutes without concluding that the whole scheme is a joke.

I listen to NPR waiting for the commentators to name a city or country in Latin America with their faux, temporary, Spanish accents. It is worth the wait. England or London are never pronounced with an English accent. Why not? Here's why. There is no reason to express solidarity with the capitalist English,only the little brown brothers to the South. Well worth listening for the pronunciation of, my favorite, Sandinista. Always with a bit of a trill and always with passion and solidarity.

The reason NPR has poor ratings is that they don't have enough midgets. Every show has to have midgets these days.

I mean look at this past Sunday. Boardwalk Empire had a whole subplot with midget boxers who formed a union to get more money to work on St. Paddy's day. Then Desperate Housewives had a midget on to scare the crap out of Vanessa Williams.

Decorum's a great thing. Enforcing an appeal to fictional journalistic standards by barring the expression or admission of any base personal reactions that are worth exploring is just stupid.

This is how today differs from the golden age of broadcasting. The human element has been stomped out like a deflating balloon. The guy who reported on the Hindenburg and Walter Cronkite didn't have to put up with this shit.

Fox may actually be an attempt to regain some human elements in broadcasting. They start with some of the basest and most negative appeals, and don't tend to rise much higher than that. But given the uptight reaction of NPR, and the assumption that the sort of fear they revealed might not be so uncommon among the suits elsewhere, I'm glad that an outfit like FOX, as warped as it is, maintains enough power to take the contrarian stand in this instance.

I'm not sure that Williams is right, there may be some factual inconsistencies related to his "fear". But for the love of God, it's not like he was advocating the kind of intolerance that others commonly do and that makes journalism as inconsequential as the ministries depicted by Orwell.

Pogo must have been waiting for some vindication from me for a long time. Heh.

Defund Alaska as soon as you give the control of the lands of the state back to the citizens. After all the feds control most of the state and won't let the resident use it to make their own money. Look on the federal funding as rent.

Since we're talking about the obvious deficiencies of NPR, has anyone listened to Car Talk lately? They've basically stopped making "new" shows. Each week they have maybe 2 or 3 new calls or a new opening segment and the rest of the show is pieced together calls from years ago. Perhaps they think no one will remember that the calls are from old shows. Well, I remember everything, and I recognize the fact that so-and-so called in about pouring Coke on her battery terminals 10 years ago and they're presenting it as if it's a new call. Seriously, is it that difficult to produce a new 50-minute call-in show once a week? How much is Car Talk getting from NPR to produce a 1/4 of a new show a week? How much are local stations charged for essentially decade-old re-runs?

For all I know, Tom and Ray are dead and Car Talk is now some sort of radio-based "Weekend at Bernie's" thing...

Is it safe to guess NPR pays $10 Million to Garrison Keilor's production company?

To phrase it more accurately, the question becomes "Is it safe to guess that $10 million of the $30 million of the program purchase funds that CPB gives to NPR member stations eventually goes to Garrison Keillor's production company?" And I would say no, that paying one dollar out of every three they receive for just two hours of programming is unrealistic.

Trooper York: You didn't ask me, but I am deathly afraid of midgets. Really afraid. So, when a midget boards an airplane on which I am seated to whom does the midget progress? Correct. I was once blocking the box at 53 and 5th headed east on 53 when a pair of midgets, beautifully dressed, passed in front of my hood with only their hats showing. I showed restraint that day and for that they should be forever grateful. No midgets.

If Barack Obama can make political hay off the fact that his grandmother was apprehensive of black people then for the love of God the world's a big enough place to have Juan Williams on the air while he admits that exotically dressed Muslims boarding airplanes frighten him.

the world's a big enough place to have Juan Williams on the air while he admits that exotically dressed Muslims boarding airplanes frighten him. This country has really got to grow up, he said as he took off his shoes, emptied his bag of all liquids, and walked through the x-ray scan on his way to a full-body pat down.

On SP: She is learning fast or has hired good writers. That was quick, easy to understand, and dead on point. She never brings up the arguments that Al (and others) use as straw men. No first amendment. No talk of illegal firing. Just bad judgment and constrained boundaries of discourse. I hope there is someone better out there who can beat her. But there is a wave of proletarian resentment of the credentialed gentry from both parties who have driven us into a ditch and then dug a hole ten times as deep to get us out. She may be able to ride it.

NPR is overwhelmingly supported by donation from listeners. the amout of government contribution is laughably small.

juan williams has been the token stooge on faux for a long time and he finally stepped in it. it isn't a matter of free speech that got him fired - NPR of all places is a free speech place - it is a matter of voicing an opinion as something of a representative of a network that tries very hard to be fair, objective and without opinion. he crossed that line. he got canned. now he can go to work full time for newscorp.

Gotta disagree with the substance of Juan's comments though - when I chose someone to keep my eye on in flight post-911, I never looked for someone in Muslim garb, but at ppl who looked like they might be sympathizers, but dressed to hide it. You know, like the actual guys dressed who brought down the plane, or the shoe bomber, etc. They weren't running around waving Qurans.

"A liberal's supposed to explore, understand and rise above any potential biases he has. Not pretend that he can never have any."

Yeah, that's what I thought Williams was doing in this instance. A lot of people seem not to have listened to the entire segment that got him fired, where he concludes that his fears about flying with conspicuous Muslim males was a bad thing.

Apparently you're not allowed to express this sort of honesty on NPR. The current, authoritatively bland, corporate NPR is a far cry from the kind of organization that they used to be. Like their viewpoint or not, they at least used to allow the rough edges of honesty and inquiry to show.

"Ritmo...Welcome to the political center. I always wished that you would join our side."

See, I don't believe his comment represents a move to the political center, it's liberal, in the best, old-fashioned sense of the word, when it meant something more than dragging the party-line. Would that everyone from all over the spectrum would rediscover that kind of honesty and principle.

See, I don't believe his comment represents a move to the political center, it's liberal, in the best, old-fashioned sense of the word, when it meant something more than dragging the party-line. Would that everyone from all over the spectrum would rediscover that kind of honesty and principle.

Which is why "statist" is probably a better description of those on the left these days than "liberal". "Progressive" is somewhere in the middle, but going out the door, as many are reminded of the rabid racism of Woodrow Wilson, one of the fathers of modern progressive thought.

Garage, just let this one go. Let Alpha do the self-immolation. This is not a winning issue for the left. I like that there are guys to the left of me who aren't morons. Folks who make me think. I lurk past Alpha and Jeremy posts. Not worth reading. You, I like to read. Ritmo did a good job on this one also. He's a funny guy. I appreciate and respect funny. His pseudo-intellectual bullshit irritates, but I think that's exactly what he's going for. You are at least his equal when you're not in Alpha mode.